The present invention relates in general to fabricated fiber-filled articles and in particular to an improved method and apparatus for producing and processing a deregistered open synthetic tow for inclusion into such fiber-filled articles.
Quilted articles, such as sleeping bags, jackets, bedspreads and the like have, throughout history, been used for the warmth and comfort characteristics which are imparted to a user. While materials might vary, most quilted articles are comprised of a plurality of quilt encompassing materials and a filler material sandwiched between these encompassing materials, which provide increased insulation and comfort. While virtually many materials can and have been used as quilt encompassing materials, most quilted articles have filler materials made of down or natural or synthetic bulk fibers.
Synthetic tow which is provided for use in the state of a crimped registered tow bundle has most recently been utilized as an inexpensive and effective filling for such articles. In order to use such a synthetic fiber product it has been necessary to open, deregister or disorientate the substantially narrow, crimped raw material before the relatively fluffy open tow web or bundle is inserted into a fiber-filled article.
At present, the process for opening such tow involves the utilization of two or more pairs of rollers with a standard continuously-threaded corrugated roll. This roll, in combination with another meeting roll draws the synthetic tow from a pair of rolls rotating at a substantially lower rate of speed to place tension upon the tow while simultaneously "combing" the tow to deregister it. This often requires the threaded rolls to be rotating approximately 2 to 3 times the speed that the preliminary pair of rolls is moving and often results in many of the fibers slipping through the continuous grooves on the roller itself. This poses a problem in that, while the majority of fibers are stretched and combed and thus opened through this process, several of the fibers nonetheless miss the deregistration process due to the failure of these fibers to actually make contact with the raised tooth portions of the corrugated roll. To compensate for this inadequacy of the conventional tow opening process, speed ratios must be maintained at a substantially high amount, often causing the problem of over stretching of the fibers which are processed through the corrugated roll. When such fibers are overstretched, the heating processes associated with washing and drying of the article could cause deformation of the article itself when the fibers tend to return to their original unstretched shape resulting in puckering and uneven flow of the fiber filling within the article. This problem is often termed "memory shrinkage".
Additionally, few, if any, of the existing conventional methods and apparatus address themselves to the processes necessary for the entire fabrication of the article once the tow is opened and deregistered. Accordingly, while a substantially automated efficient process is directed toward the opening of the tow, the collection, distribution, and envelopment of the resulting tow web product is left to inefficient manual fabrication techniques which simply fail to produce a high quality, standardized, fabricated article at a substantially reasonable cost.
It is thus the object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus for opening and deregistering crimped synthetic tow which does so in a more effective manner to yield an open tow product of improved density while at the same time having more stable non-deforming wear characteristics. In accordance with this object, it is an additional object to intermittently hold and release a group of fibers as they are being stretched and deregistered between two pairs of rotating rollers, and to maximize the volume of fibers exposed to this process.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide for the fabrication of such an open tow without requiring excessively high speed machinery while at the same time producing an open tow synthetic product having improved insulation and comfort features inexpensively and in a more facilitated manner.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus through which the entire fiber filled article itself may be fabricated through the utilization of automated techniques for the express purposes of providing a consistant high quality product at substantially reduced cost and in a facilitated manner.
Similarly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus through which various thicknesses of fiber filling may be obtained with relative ease depending upon the objectives and utilization of the end product itself.
These and other objects will become apparent in light of the present specification.